Shallura week 2017
by hat-and-goggles
Summary: My prompt fills for Shallura week!
1. Day 1: Dancing

"I'm really not sure about this, princess. I understand that you want to organize these grand balls for our allies, and I understand that you want me there as your fiancé, but my knowledge about dancing just about begins and ends with the Macarena." Shiro protested as Allura all but dragged him into the old ballroom.

All of this felt so surreal. Ever since he was little, Shiro wanted nothing more than to be a hero and marry a beautiful princess (or prince, he really didn't mind all that much), but now that he was engaged to a real princess, he realized it was nothing like what he imagined. Regardless, Shiro loved Allura with all his heart. He was more than willing to lay down his life for her, but _dancing_ , that was something else completely.

Images of his high school prom flashed through his head; stepping on the feet of his then-girlfriend on more than one occasion, tripping and stumbling left and right. Sure, he had come a long way since then, but Shiro had never danced again.

"I know, I've been told. That's why we're here." Allura looked at him with a sweet, somewhat unsettling smile.

Shiro tilted his head in response. "Huh?"

"We're not leaving this ballroom until you can dance." The princess snapped her fingers, and the large doors they entered through slammed shut. Shiro didn't have to listen very hard to hear a lock click in place. "Then, if you still have some energy left when we finish, you can show me this 'Macarena' you mentioned."

Shiro snorted, trying desperately to hide his anxiousness. "I'm sorry, princess, but the stars aren't aligned for that. Not today. Probably not ever."

"Let me just ask you this," Allura said, taking Shiro's hands in hers, "why is it that you always insist that you can't dance, but when I watch you on the battlefield, you move with all the grace of a Zankerian court dancer."

"Is that a compliment?"

"Shiro, what is holding you back?"

"Context, I guess… Look, I've danced before, I was horrible at it and I was humiliated in front of my entire school. Even if you say I got better, I'd prefer to not go through that again…"

"Well, I suppose leading a dance and leading Voltron are two very different things…" Allura mumbled, deep in thought. "I can actually show you how to do this myself, for one." She stated as she took Shiro's hands and grew a few inches. "Just pay close attention to what I do, then copy my movements when it is your turn."

Music started playing in the ballroom, a waltz if Shiro's memory served correctly. Shiro almost recoiled when Allura placed her hand on his hip, but all his nerves seemed to fade as she started to sweep him along the dance floor and he _actually_ enjoyed it. He forgot all about the clumsy dancer he used to be, and Allura forgot all about teaching Shiro to lead a dance.

They were content just dancing the night away.


	2. Day 2: Gender-cisswap

Well, it looked like Slav's machine worked. More or less. The device itself had fallen to the ground and large plumes of smoke rose from it, yet, in front of Allura stood a woman.

The woman was as tall and broad as the man who stood before her only seconds ago. Her face was rounder, with softer features and framed by a slightly longer white fringe, but with the same familiar scared across her face. Her arms and torso, while undoubtedly just as strong, were visibly more soft and plump than his, but clad in the same clothes, nonetheless.

"You're not prince Alfor…" the strange woman whispered in disbelief. "What did you do to him?!" she demanded, her hand glowing as she pulled back to lash out at the princess.

Allura easily ducked out of the way of the weaponized fist. "Shiro, please. Listen to me." She pleaded, but when the other woman started charging for another attack, Allura stepped aside and subdued the woman she could only identify as Shiro by twisting her left arm behind her back and pushing her to her knees. "Shiro, you must listen to me. I understand that this may be frightening, but I promise, your prince Alfor is alright. Our royal inventor, Slav, built a machine that would help us travel between realities, but it blew up… Right now, my Shiro is with your prince. They will be fine, I promise." Allura slowly let go off Shiro as she started to calm down during her speech.

"Then, who are you?" Shiro asked, looking up at the princess from where she kneeled on the floor.

Allura smiled as she knelt down in front of Shiro and took her hands into own. "I am princess Allura of the planet Altea. My father was king Alfor, so I'm guessing your friend is prince Alfor the second."

Shiro nodded before bowing her head ever so slightly. "I'm sorry I attacked you, princess. I shouldn't have assumed you had done something to the prince, I should have listened…"

Allura sighed and helped Shiro back to her feet, lifting her chin up to face her. "It's alright. What happened, happened. As our Shiro would say, it's no use crying over spilled milk. I'm afraid you might have to get comfortable, though. It might take Slav a few days to rebuild the machine."

"Princess, if I get to wait alongside you, I'll have nothing to complain about."


	3. Day 3: Roleswap

Shiro heard the automatic doors to the bridge open behind him, he turned at the sound, hoping it was his trusted advisor who came through. "Oh, Coran, you're just who I—needed…"

"I'm sorry to disappoint, prince Shirogane." Allura apologized before sitting down next to him. "Is something bothering you?" She frowned, trying to get a better look at him.

Shiro faked a convincing, confident smile. "Only that you still address me so formally. How often have I asked you to call me Shiro?"

"This quintent?" She asked in a mocking manner. "But really, why the long face?"

Shiro drew his knees up to his chest and turned away from her slightly. "It's nothing… It's just… so surreal. One day you don't have a care in the world, the next you're supposed to be leading a war against an empire that has existed for ten millennia without any prior experience. It's just scary… _Quiznak_ , I'm scared."

Allura hesitated for a second, but decided to wrap her arm around his shoulders nonetheless. "Look, I don't want to insult you, your highness, but we're _all_ scared. None of us have had the training we should have had for this. Heck, most of us didn't even _finish_ our formal training. My crew and I were only sent into space for research, to _maybe_ find evidence of extraterrestrial life. Boy, did we…" She whispered, looking at the metal device replacing her right arm.

"That's not very uplifting." The prince mumbled quietly.

"When I put it like that, you're right, that isn't uplifting at all, but what I'm trying to say is that we're all feeling the same thing. We're all just scared little creatures, thrown into a war we weren't ready for, and yet, we've achieved so much. The more the people of the known universe hear about Voltron, the more will be willing to revolt, to ally themselves with us, and we're only doing all of that on the fly. Imagine what we could do when we become actually good at this."

"Will we, though?" Shiro asked, looking at her. His cyan-magenta eyes were watering, but Allura dried them before the tears could spill.

"We will. We have to. After all, we're the defenders of the universe."


	4. Day 4: Wedding

This was a big day. There was no denying that. Today was important, it would completely change the course of the rest of his life. Today was his dream come true.

Excited as he was, he was completely relaxed. They waited until the war was won; that was one huge stress factor less. Coran would officiate their wedding and Allura's subsequent coronation; that was one more. On top of that, Lance insisted he take care of the festivities. After all, he was the most experienced at planning weddings thanks to his four older siblings. As it turned out, Altean weddings weren't all that different from weddings on Earth, the most prominent difference being the fact that it was the groom being given away by a loved one, rather than the bride. Lance being Lance, of course, had taken it upon himself to invite all their immediate family, to make it a 'welcome back' party as well. This whole thing was in capable hands which, luckily, weren't his own.

The Castle of Lions was set up in the Nevada desert for the time being, a few miles out from the Galaxy Garrison. Their officials had been sent a formal invitation as well, with the message that their poor treatment of Shiro upon his initial return to Earth would be pardoned, should they ally themselves with Voltron. A little overdramatic and greatly unnecessary if you asked Shiro, but everyone else had insisted.

Shiro stared out into the desert from the balcony. He was dressed much too fancy to his tastes but, again, Coran had insisted.

"You had better get used to this, young man." Coran had scolded him when he protested a few days back. "This is formal wear meant for an Altean prince. You may wear that ratty old vest of yours as much as you like on your days off, but during important events, _your own wedding for instance_ , you must wear this."

The words 'Altean prince' sounded so alien to him. When he proposed to Allura, he hadn't even realized that was exactly what he would be when they were married and Allura was crowned the queen. To him it just felt like proposing to the girl he loved and admired so very much. They were so close at that point, he constantly forgot she was royalty.

He smiled as he watched one of the Galaxy Garrison's desert buggies approach the castle. It would be fun, seeing commander Iverson again, he supposed. He looked forward to telling the man all about his adventures in space, because despite what happened after he crashed, they had still been friendly with one another for a long time.

Shiro snapped out of his daze when he heard a knock on his door and looked up to find Keith, his best man, walk into the room.

"You ready, Prince Takashi?" Keith teased, elbowing him in his side.

"I've never been more ready for anything in my life. And don't ever call me that again, will you?"

"You know that's a promise I can't keep." He grinned. "Now let's go, we can't keep your almost queen waiting, can we?"

Shiro smiled. "No, we can't."


	5. Day 5: Cooking

This installment can be read as a part of my single dad AU, available here s/12201110/1/Kids-Cats

* * *

"Shiro, you really don't have to do this for me." Allura said nervously as she watched Shiro hurry from pan to pan to stir the contents inside. She had been sitting at his kitchen table for half an hour, and she still wasn't sure what he was making for her. By now, the kids would be in the kitchen too, impatiently pulling on their dad's pant legs in hopes of him finishing dinner sooner, had Coran not taken them for McDonald's and a sleepover. Tonight, they would have Shiro's tiny apartment all to themselves.

"But I do! Kind of…" He protested before turning around to look at her. "Allura, you've already done so much for us, please just let me do this one thing for you." No human being should be invulnerable to the pout that graced Shiro's lips before he quickly went back to stirring through the food.

"I would." Allura sighed as she got up and made her way to the small gas stove and turned the burners to a low fire. "But you can't be everywhere at once. Just let me help you. I mean, it might be more fun doing it together." She said as she took a wooden spoon from the rack next to the stove and stuck it into one of the pans to stir. "Besides, if you're going to be too stubborn to wear your arm every once in a while, at least let me be your extra set of hands in the kitchen." She pointed out, looking up at him with a soft smile that made Shiro blush.

"I guess you're right." Shiro said, looking down and focusing very hard on his pan in hopes of Allura not noticing how flustered he is.

"So, remind me what this is again?" Allura asked, looking at the brown-ish, lumpy sludge she was stirring.

"Japanese curry. My mom's recipe made following Hunk's instructions."

"Well, I must say this is unlike any curry I've seen before…" Allura said, some reluctance evident in her voice, but she lifted the spoon to her lips and tasted it anyway.

"Of course, my mom and Hunk are much better cooks than me. If they were here to help me, this curry would knock your socks off! Uh… Allura?"

The attempt Allura made to not gag and/or spit the curry out immediately was commendable, but the tears in her eyes were a dead giveaway. Shiro smiled sadly as he handed her a napkin to respectfully dispose of what little 'curry' she had in her mouth and turned off the stove. Shiro turned around to take a seat back at the kitchen table and let out a disappointed sigh.

Allura took a deep breath before taking a seat next to him and gently placing her hand on his shoulder. "Hey, it's okay to be bad at this one thing, you know? You're a dad, not Superman. Actually, Uncle Coran used to live on microwave dinners before I came to live with him. It was having kids of his own again that made him learn how to actually cook. Within a few months, he was actually pretty good at it!"

Shiro only sighed harder, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Allura, I've had the boys for seven years now, two of which I've had them completely on my own. I've tried and failed time and time again. I just… I just can't do it."

"Then don't. Shiro, this is may very well be the thousandth time I've told you this, but I'll be damned if I stop. You don't have to be good at everything because you don't have to do everything. You've got Uncle Coran and me now. Even if you don't feel like bothering us every day, which you wouldn't because we love having you guys around, eating four microwave dinners a week never killed me. Just leave the real cooking to Hunk, Coran and your mom, okay?"

Shiro only nodded, still feeling a little down. Allura, on the other hand was already on the phone.

"Hey, what were your favorite pizza toppings again?"


	6. Day 6: Romantic date

This fic can be read as a prequel to day 4.

* * *

' _This_ _ **has**_ _to be perfect._ ' Was the mantra the princess repeated in her head as she hurried around the bridge of the Castle of Lions. The lights were dimmed, only the glow of the crystal in the ceiling and the galaxies and nebulas outside the window illuminated the room. Well, that and a singular candle that was burning on a small table, decked out in the finest tablecloth, china and silverware Allura could find.

Hunk had slaved away in the kitchen all day to be able to serve them the best meal he could make; which was currently sitting under two metal domes on the table And Lance had helped her with making a new dress for the occasion. Everything was _just right_.

And yet, she was caught completely off guard when the doors opened.

"Princess? You wanted to see me?" Shiro asked, all business as per usual. That was, until he noticed the bridge looked different. _Very_ different. "Um, what's going on here?"

"A date." Allura answered. "I wanted to surprise you, Shiro."

"Well, you sure did. What's the occasion?"

"I'm glad you asked." Allura said, crossing the distance between them and taking his hands in hers. "You know I love you with all my heart, right?"

Shiro nodded. "The feeling is mutual." He whispered, leaning down to kiss her, only to be met with the palm of her hand, pushing him away.

"Then you will let me finish."

"Of course, princess."

"Good. Takashi, I've noticed that you've been taking more and greater risks in battle than ever before. Obviously, we're all very concerned about your well-being. We don't want you to get hurt, or worse, get killed."

Shiro looked down, away from Allura. "Well, we're supposed to win a war, aren't we? Wars have collateral damage. You, of all people, should know that."

"No." She squeezed his hands tightly. If this was anyone else, Shiro would be trying to pull himself away, but he knew there was no getting out of her death grip. "Shiro, winning this war doesn't have to mean losing you. I love you. _We all love you._ Your disappearance was bad enough as it was, but you _dying_ would devastate us and possibly our mission against the Galra. So… That's why your friends and I devised a plan."

"A plan?"

"A plan to motivate you to not get yourself killed. We will marry."

"What?" Shiro asked, his face bright red, but Allura continued.

"We will settle down on Earth, have children, a house pet; everything we've talked about doing, but only under the condition that when Zarkon is defeated and the Galra empire is left in capable hands, you will be alive. Do you think you can do that for me?"

Shiro smiled. "For you, anything. I just have one more question."

"And what might that be?" Allura asked, but her question was immediately answered when Shiro got down on one knee and produced a ring from his pocket.

"Allura, will you marry me?"


	7. Day 7: Free day (Roswell)

This fic takes place five years before A Day At The Races and can be seen as a prequel/preview of sorts of an upcoming fic in that same AU!

* * *

July 8th, 1947, 11 PM. It was a quiet night at the diner. Not much of a surprise, nobody would willingly go out in the pouring rain like this. Shiro looked up from the grill to peer outside at how the rain was pelting at the windows, when he saw a girl standing by the door. Disheveled and soaked to the bone. He quickly flipped his burger onto the raw side before hurrying over to the door, pushing it open.

"Excuse me, miss? Are you alright?" He asked her. When no response came, he spoke up again. "Would you come inside? I've got some dry clothes and coffee to warm you up." The girl immediately nodded and Shiro stepped aside to let her in, closing the door behind her.

He rushed her to the back room of the restaurant to hand her a few towels, a spare waitress uniform and his own jacket. "Here, you can dry off and wear these for the time being. Wouldn't want you to catch a cold. I'll get you something to eat in the meantime."

Shiro watched as the girl chowed down on the burger he made her, ketchup smeared over her face and fingers. He didn't get a good look at her until now, since he was too busy to make sure she would be okay. She had the most beautiful brown skin, thick, long, pearly white hair. Her ears seemed pointier than most others, and the pink markings on her cheekbones were a very interesting choice in makeup, Shiro noted. The pink uniform suited her very well, but his jacket was huge on her. However, maybe over time… 'Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Shirogane. This is not the time to think about that.' He told himself internally.

"Thank you for your hospitality, kind sir. I was sent away by every other establishment on my journey, I didn't think you would allow me in…" The girl spoke softly. Shiro could tell she wasn't usually so soft spoken, but then again, she must have had a rough night to end up here like this.

Shiro leaned over the counter to look at her. "May I ask what happened, miss? Maybe I could help you out."

"There was a crash a few towns over…" She mumbled. "I lost my uncle. I tried to find him, but I couldn't." Tears started welling up in her eyes and Shiro quickly handed her a napkin. "So then I decided to go look for food and a place to spend the night and stay there until he found me instead, but I was sent away from every place I tried… They all said they didn't serve my kind, whatever that means, but you let me in… and I'm grateful for that."

Shiro sighed. "Well, it is unfair, but not unsurprising. Most places around here are for whites only, and I hate to break it to you, miss, but you're black."

"Well, that makes no sense. I'm dark brown at best, but I'm nowhere near black."

"That's not—" Shiro pinched the bridge of his nose. "You don't know what segregation is? Apartheid doesn't ring a bell?"

The girl shook her head.

"What I'd give to see the place you came from…" Shiro sighed before looking back at her. "Those people who sent you away, they all looked a certain way, right? Fair skinned, big eyes?" He asked, spreading his eyelids to illustrate what he was talking about.

The girl nodded and chuckled into her hand.

"Well, those people are white people. They've run pretty much everything for hundreds of years, bossing around everyone who didn't look like them, my people too, but mostly black people like you. Even right now, it's still mostly that way. Because they think they're better than us, they want all the good places to themselves and keep us out. Even this place was like that until somehow the owner decided to hire me to run this place for him."

"That is so unfair!" She nearly shouted. "There has to be something that can be done!"

"That would be nice." Shiro mumbled. "But true emancipation is still decades away, if not centuries. We just have to make it the best we can."

The girl nodded and went back to eating her burger and fries. "My name is Allura."

"Shiro. Pleased meeting you."

"What happened to your arm, Shiro?" She asked, nodding at the sling his right arm dangled in.

"Oh, that… I just tried to break up a fight between two guards in my camp a few years ago. I mean, it was kind of successful. By giving them a common enemy, they stopped fighting one another. But on the other hand, to them I was just another Jap to beat up, so it didn't end too well for me. I could kiss my baseball scholarship and business school goodbye, but I ended up running a business because of it, so I guess it wasn't all bad."

"If you really feel that way, I guess you're right." Allura yawned, her eyes were falling shut.

"Hey, why don't you go to sleep in one of the booths over there? Then in the morning, when my shift is done and your clothes are dry, we can go look for your uncle."

"That sounds great, thank you."

When Allura woke up, it was to the sound of familiar chatter.

Coran sat on a stool at the counter with a cup of coffee and a plate of food, probably laughing at his own joke Shiro didn't seem to understand.

Allura smiled as she sat beside him, stealing a strip of bacon from his plate and eating it.

"Good morning, princess."

"Good morning, Uncle Coran." She beamed. "How did you know where to find me?"

"That's quite straightforward, actually. I saw you through the window and I went inside. Then I got to talking to this handsome young gentleman and then he gave me 'breakfast'!"

"It's all on the house, by the way. After the night you guys had, it didn't seem fair to make you pay for the food too."

"Thank you so much, Shiro."

Shiro smiled as he watched them walk away. He turned up the radio while he waited for his employee to come in for his shift.

' _…reports coming in of an unidentified flying object crashing at a farm in Roswell, New Mexico. Authorities refused to disclose…_ '

"Hm… Roswell, huh? That's not too far away."


End file.
